From our “George III wouldn’t have done this to you” files:
RAEFORD — A preschooler at West Hoke Elementary School ate three chicken nuggets for lunch Jan. 30 because a state employee told her the lunch her mother packed was not nutritious.
The girl’s turkey and cheese sandwich, banana, potato chips, and apple juice did not meet U.S. Department of Agriculture guidelines, according to the interpretation of the agent who was inspecting all lunch boxes in her More at Four classroom that day.
The Division of Child Development and Early Education at the Department of Health and Human Services requires all lunches served in pre-kindergarten programs — including in-home day care centers — to meet USDA guidelines. That means lunches must consist of one serving of meat, one serving of milk, one serving of grain, and two servings of fruit or vegetables, even if the lunches are brought from home.
The home-made lunch having been ruled illegal by officials*, the preschooler was given a federally-approved lunch, for which her mother has been sent a bill. The girl didn’t care for the substitute lunch, ate only the three chicken nuggets, and left everything else on her tray untouched. It may not have worked out all that nutritious for her, but at least it’s compliant with DCDEE/DHHS/USDA paperwork, and that’s what matters.
[*CORRECTED FROM EARLIER VERSION]
This is getting crazy. The left in this country must be stopped. They're now on this contrived notion that Republicans want to ban contraceptives. In fact, it is THEY who want to control us. Leave us alone!
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseOK, I am not an Food Enforcement officer but:
Turkey- One serving Meat
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseCheese- One serving Milk
Bread- One Serving Grain
Banana and Apple Juice - Two servings Fruit/Vegetable
SO it seems to pass
vs.
3 chicken nuggets- Not even sure what that counts as. Too little meat (1-2 oz?) is that a serving
Potato chips- there's a third vegetable.
This story is horrible. The parent should refuse to pay the bill and send the kid to school with only chicken nuggets from now on, and send the bill to the school.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThe actual content of the meal is beside that point. Who are these people that are telling (more than "telling", actually) a mother what to feed her child? What gives them the authority? Their answer would be that they work for the USDA, which is just circular logic ("I'm the authority, that's why I'm the authority").
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI agree. My comment was intended to point out that those enforcing this absurd mandate are not competent to do even that. Having the power means they HAVE to use it.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"The criminal home-made lunch was confiscated and destroyed by officials"
From the article:
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"When the girl came home with her lunch untouched..."
Well, all rightey then!!! As long as they merely disallowed the child to eat her lunch and gave her a government issue lunch instead that they billed her parents for, BUT they sent the unacceptable lunch home with her instead of disposing of it themselves, it's all good!
Thanks for setting the record straight. As long as I know the tooth-level surveillance agents aren't actually wasting any food the erosion of liberty is just fine and dandy.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseFirst they came for the apple juice, and I had milk so I said nothing.
Then they came for the potato chips,and I had carrots, so I said nothing.
Thent they came for my sandwich, and because it was peanut butter and jelly.. .
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseNice pun, Roberto. I really enjoyed that.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abusestunning. "even if the lunches are brought from home." -- I cannot imagine any law passed says this. This is wholly the creature of the bureaucratic state and some regulation. No doubt this is to force children onto the "free-lunch" program which is the basis for so many other federal program qualifications.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThis is how you get a generation of Americans used to being bossed around by unaccountable bureaucrats.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"one serving of meat, one serving of milk".
Kosher does not allow meat and milk in the same meal. Does it mean the war on Jews in addition to Catholics and other pro-lifers?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI will defer to you on the matter. I had thought that they could be in the same meal but required separate preparation and serving utensils. So a cheese dish could be served prior to a meat dish as long as the preparation of each was done in accordance with the Law and no plates or utensils were reused. Even if I was right, I think you are correct that this would be a problem with a packed lunch.
Shows how little I know about the topic.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIf you're keeping strictly kosher you have to wait a period of time after ingesting meat before ingesting dairy, and vice versa. It would end up being an extremely long meal - I think the time to wait after eating meat measures in the hours.
That said, fish doesn't count as meat for this particular rule -- so an Orthodox Jew probably could put together a fish and dairy meal that complied with the regulations.
Not that anyone should have to comply with any regulations when it comes to packing their children's lunch!
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWe are no longer a free country, a free people.
First, it would NOT matter, it is NOT the business of government (schools), even if parents give their child a sack lunch consisting of 10 chocolate bars - IT IS NOT THE BUSINESS OF GOVERNMENT.
We are not longer free.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWords fail me.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWhy are we not all rioting and demanding someone's head on a platter? Oh yeah, TV and sports - the new opiate of the masses.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseDid you hear the latest with the Kardashians?!! Oh my, it's like, so cool!!!
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseHeaven forbid a demand that someone from TV or Sports put their head on a platter (even over silly moral failings). See Novak for the result. Off. Deep. End.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIt's like an onion, where peeling back each layer reveals another outrage, each more offensive than the last.
The United States Department of Agriculture is sending agents to schools to inspect and confiscate the lunches that parents send with their preschoolers.
This, in what was and is supposed to be a constitutional republic with an amendment that explicitly reserves to the states and to the people those powers not delegated to the federal government by the Constitution.
Worse, the government is taxing us blind so that it can pay its agents to come into our schools and inspect and confiscate our preschoolers' lunches.
And even worse than that, the government is doing all this while amassing debt that is almost inconceivable in its size, adding to it by more than a trillion dollars each year.
The government is shackling our children to a massive burden of debt for the privilege of having the school lunches we make inspected and confiscated.
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